"la libertad nos une, la unión nos libera" Ibn Arabi, Murcia S XII

26.7.12

[ en ] Kleptocracy: This Was The Second Transition

Originally published on Diagonal, nº 179, p. 33.

(Thanks to Richard McAleavey for the translation! :-)

‘The cutbacks announced by Rajoy will deepen the recession until 2013’: thus read the El País headline on the package of measures that starts off the imperial economic protectorate of the EU and the markets. The headline, however, could have been another one no less consistent or resounding: “It’s not a crisis! It’s a scam!”. After all, we are witnessing the worst extortion operation we have ever known.

Extortion, let us recall, is an ‘offence that consists of forcing –through violence or intimidation- the commission or omission of an act or commercially motivated legal transaction with a view to making money and with the intention of causing material loss to the victim or a third party’. In this case, the intimidation is that exercised by the markets, and the act or commercially motivated legal transaction is the measures approved in Las Cortes with the goal of ruining the lives of the 99% to the benefit of the 1%.

Struggles converge as miners, firefighters, judges, public
employees, the unemployed and even the army step up their resistance
against EU-enforced cuts.
On Thursday, millions of Spaniards took to the streets in over 80
cities around the country in the largest protest since the past 15th of October,
just hours after the Rajoy government ratified the largest budget cuts
in the history of Spanish democracy. Once again, in times of crisis, the
system shows it true face: as Congress and the streets around it were
barricaded by militarized police forces, the ruling party (PP) enforced
its absolute majority by carrying out the vote alone, while other
parties left Parliament in protest.Government Ratifies Austerity to Backdrop of Political Turmoil
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy arrived five hours after the debate had
begun, just in time for the crucial vote. He has yet to appear in
Congress to explain the actions his Government is carrying out, which
include, apart from the mentioned austerity measures, an inexplicable deluge of lies and
deliberate misinformation: as Spaniards learnt this week through the
international media, their sovereignty (that is, the amount and
conditions of a full bailout of the financial sector) is being debated not in Spain itself — but in Germany, Holland and Finland.
This new agreement, which Mr. Rajoy has failed to even bring up,
implies a loan of up to 100bn euros that will fatten up the public debt
even further. The deal, which will lead to even harsher austerity
measures in the coming months, was simply left out of the public debate
until mainstream media caught onto a document made public
by the Dutch government mentioning the agreement and its possible
conditions. A full review of this and other documents, some of which
were kept confidential, was made public and explained yesterday by El Pais — Spain’s largest newspaper — and led to widespread criticism from different segments of the Spanish population.

12.7.12

Dozens injured as riot police attack striking miners and their sympathizers in Madrid while Spanish government announces further austerity measures.
The crisis of European capitalism took a major turn for the worse on Wednesday as the Spanish government made a radical U-turn by announcing even deeper austerity measures to the background of some of the biggest and most radical anti-austerity protests to have rocked Europe in months. While thousands of miners and tens of thousands of sympathizers clashedwith riot police during their march on Madrid’s iconic Puerta del Sol, Prime Minister Rajoy told Parliament he would raise sales taxes, slash unemployment payments, raise the retirement age and reduce civil service pay.

At least 73 were injured as riot police indiscriminately fired rubber bullets into the crowds and protesters retaliated by throwing bottles, trash and fireworks back at police. Images circulating on Twitter showed a journalist lying injured on the ground and a young child (below) with a massive bruise from a rubber bullet. One particularly disturbing image showed a woman bleeding protrusively from the head as she was being led away by riot police. The clashes are remarkable because, in contrast to Barcelona and Athens, protests in Madrid have tended to stay relatively peaceful so far.